LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - A mother and daughter darts duo from Fort Simpson will be representing the territory at the national level.

Both Louisa and Brenda Moreau won seats on the team as a result of their performances at the NWT Darts Territorials that were held in the village from March 19 to 21. Eighteen women and 23 men from Yellowknife, Hay River, Inuvik and Fort Simpson participated in the competition.

Louisa Moreau is one of two darts players from Fort Simpson that will be representing the territory at the Canadian nationals after winning a spot on the team during the NWT Darts Territorials. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

The prize for the darts players was eight positions and one alternate for both the men's and women's territorial teams that will travel to the Canadian nationals in Gander, N.L., in June. After three days of darts Brenda ranked first of the women, followed by her mother Louisa in second.

Brenda won 16 games. Her only loss was against Heather Makero of Yellowknife.

"The competition was tough this weekend," Brenda said.

During the territorials each participant plays everyone else in their division. The winner of each set is decided by the best out of three games. For the women, this meant everyone played at least 34 and as many as 51 games over the weekend. The men played between 44 and 66 games.

"It was a great learning experience for our new players," she said.

Despite the fact that Brenda has lost track of the number of times she's been to the nationals - it's more than seven - she said that she's still excited to go. This is the fifth time that Louisa has qualified for the nationals. She has only played at the event once, having passed on three different occasions.

Louisa said she enjoys playing at the territorials because it's fun.

"It's something different from playing with your regular players," she said.

At the territorial level, many of the players are old friends so it's nice to see everyone at the event, she said.

The rest of the women's squad was filled out by four players from Yellowknife, one from Hay River and one from Inuvik, The alternate is also from Yellowknife. In the men's division, Yellowknife narrowly missed making a clean sweep. The top seven players are all from the city. Fort Simpson's Jason Elgie fell just short of making the men's team. The final two spots on the team and the alternate were decided by a five-way playoff after the players tied with each other. A hush fell over the gym as the players gathered to watch the five men compete.

Dean Willis of Yellowknife got down from 501 and doubled out first to take the seventh spot. Mike Lindsay of Inuvik took the eighth spot and Claude Boucher of Hay River finished next to become the alternate.

Because of the territorials' location, 10 players from Fort Simpson competed over the weekend, compared to the average of five that the village usually sends. In addition to Brenda, Louisa and Elgie, the experienced players included John Moreau, Steve Gooderham and Wally Watson. For Scott McIntosh, Sheila Pollard, Chris Lake and Eric Menicoche it was their first territorials.

"It was really good. I had a great time," said McIntosh.

McIntosh said he decided to play in the event because it was a good opportunity to meet other darts players from the territory and to face different competitors.

"The competition on the men's side was pretty stiff," said McIntosh who won five sets.

"(There was) a lot of guys with a lot of experience playing darts."